Posted on 04/21/2006 12:56:01 AM PDT by OakOak
Edited on 04/21/2006 2:52:00 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
At first, a stripper who performed at a Duke University lacrosse team party doubted the story of a colleague who told police she was dragged into a bathroom and raped.
Now, Kim Roberts isn't so sure.
"I was not in the bathroom when it happened, so I can't say a rape occurred - and I never will," Roberts told The Associated Press Thursday in her first on-the-record interview. But after watching defense attorneys release photos of the accuser, and upset by the leaking of both dancers' criminal pasts, she said she has to "wonder about their character."
"In all honesty, I think they're guilty," she said. "And I can't say which ones are guilty ... but somebody did something besides underage drinking. That's my honest-to-God impression."
Attorneys for the 46 players have aggressively proclaimed the players' innocence, citing DNA tests during a public campaign that has included describing and releasing photos from the party.
Those photos, the defense maintains, show the accuser was both injured and impaired when she arrived, and also support the claim that one of the two players who has been indicted would not have had enough time to participate in any assault before he left the party. The district attorney has said he also hopes to charge a third suspect in the case.
The attorneys claim Roberts at first told a member of the defense team that she did not believe the accuser's allegations. They say she has changed her story to gain favorable treatment in a criminal case against her. They note she also e-mailed a New York public relations firm, asking in her letter for advice on "how to spin this to my advantage."
"We believe ... her story has been motivated by her own self-interest," said attorney Bill Thomas, who represents one of the uncharged players. "I think that a jury will ultimately have to decide the question of her credibility."
Roberts, 31, was arrested on March 22 - eight days after the party - on a probation violation from a 2001 conviction for embezzling $25,000 from a photofinishing company in Durham where she was a payroll specialist, according to documents obtained by the AP.
On Monday, the same day a grand jury indicted lacrosse players Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty, a judge agreed to a change so that Roberts would no longer have to pay a 15 percent fee to a bonding agent. District Attorney Mike Nifong signed a document saying he would not oppose the change.
"It seems she is receiving very favorable financial treatment for what she is now saying," Thomas said.
Mark Simeon, Roberts' attorney, said the bond conditions were changed because Roberts is not considered a flight risk. Nifong, who hasn't spoken with reporters about the case in weeks, didn't return a call seeking comment.
Roberts' testimony could be vital during any trial of the two sophomores, indicted on charges of first-degree rape, sexual offense and kidnapping.
Other than lacrosse players and the accuser, a 27-year-old student at a nearby university, Roberts is believed to be the only other person at the March 13 party.
Roberts said Thursday she does not remember Seligmann's face, but said she recalls seeing Finnerty - whom she described as the "little skinny one."
"I was looking him right in the eyes," she said.
Although she would not talk extensively about the party, she confirmed some of what the other dancer told police - including that the women initially left the party after one of the players threatened to sodomize the women with a broomstick.
The players' attorneys have said their clients were angry and demanded a refund when the women stopped dancing, but Roberts disputed that.
"They ripped themselves off when they started hollering about a broomstick," she said.
The accuser told police that the women were coaxed back into the house with an apology, at which point they were separated. That's when she said she was dragged into a bathroom and raped, beaten and choked for a half hour.
Later, police received a 911 call from a woman complaining that she had been called racial slurs by white men gathered outside the home where the party took place. The defense has said it believes the second dancer at the party made that call.
Roberts then drove the accuser - whom she reportedly had just met that night - to a grocery store and asked a security guard to call 911. The accuser was described later by a police officer as "just passed-out drunk."
The defense timeline is backed up by a cab driver who said Seligmann called for a ride at 12:14 a.m., and was picked up five minutes later. The defense argues that if the dancers were performing around midnight, Seligmann would not have had enough time to participate in the 30-minute assault described by the accuser.
The cabbie, Moez Mostafa, also said he saw a woman leaving the party in anger, and overheard someone say, "She just a stripper. She's going to call the police."
"She looked, like, mad," he said of the woman. "In her face, the way she walked, the way she talked, she looked like mad."
On Thursday, authorities released warrants detailing their search earlier this week of Finnerty's dorm room. Seized during the search were a newspaper article and an envelope addressed to Finnerty.
Also Thursday, 5W Public Relations, a New York firm that specializes in "crisis communication," distributed an e-mail signed "The 2nd Dancer," and Roberts confirmed she sent it after learning the AP knew her identity.
"I've found myself in the center of one of the biggest stories in the country," she wrote. "I'm worried about letting this opportunity pass me by without making the best of it and was wondering if you had any advice as to how to spin this to my advantage."
Ronn Torossian, 5W's president, said he replied, but got no response.
"If this person is indeed who they say they are, I would be happy to speak with her," said Torossian, whose firm has represented the likes of Sean "Diddy" Combs, Ice Cube and Lil' Kim.
Roberts, like the accuser a divorced single mother who is black, took umbrage at the notion that she should not try to make something out of her experience. She's worried that once her name and criminal record are public, no one will want to hire her.
"Why shouldn't I profit from it?" she asked. "I didn't ask to be in this position ... I would like to feed my daughter."
Roberts is bracing for an all-out attack, but said she's almost past caring.
"Don't forget that they called me a damn n####," she said. "She (the accuser) was passed out in the car. She doesn't know what she was called. I was called that. I can never forget that."
Roberts, 31, was arrested on March 22 - eight days after the party - on a probation violation from a 2001 conviction for embezzling $25,000 from a photofinishing company in Durham where she was a payroll specialist, according to documents obtained by the AP.
Good Morning to you, too! I'm just an observer.
Well.. if ya check out Kim's brother's website, you check out Kim's, and you might get the impression they swing another way........ Maybe Jason does too.
he's insane. ANYTHING is possible. much of durham is a cesspool that long ago started suffering from an overwhelming number of liberals combined with folks on public assistance.
many locally are not surprised at this case at all. killings, drugs and all kinds of wacko stuff go on in durham weekly rivaling any city in the northeast. durham has to lead the nation in per capita murder and drug violence.
any DA here should be checked for insanity or alterior motives.
what is surprising is that Duke hasn't moved the campus. and if those guys called an escort service in that part of town, they are also insane.
they all knew those places where you don't stop at stop lights are where the girls would come from.
Derek???
Photojournalist?
http://www.lightstalkers.org/derekanderson
How fascinating. The roomate is a photographer. And Kim is also into the photography thing. Small world.
Jason heard the racially charged remark while sitting on the front porch of our house. But, thankfully, I was not out on the porch with Jason that night. I was in the back sunroom, clacking out a letter to a friend on an old typewriter. It was just another Sunday night, after all.
So Jason's vantage point was his own FRONT PORCH. He probably then did not have a view of the back porch where the action was from 12:30 to 12:40.
General Summary Information
DOC Number: 0746838 P&P Status: ACTIVE
Name(s): ROBERTS, KIM
Demographics
Gender: FEMALE Race: BLACK
Age: 31 Birth Date: 06/18/1974
Supervision Record for Sentence Number: 01-001
Commitment Type: PROBATION/PAROLE
Conviction Date: 12/11/2001 County of Conviction: DURHAM
Punishment Type: COMMUNITY SS (DCC)
Sentence Type 1: PROBATION
Sentence Type 2: SUSPENDED SENTENCE
Sentence Type 3: COUNTY JAIL
Supervision Term: 36 MONTHS
Commitment Docket# Offense (Qualifier) Offense Date Type Sentencing Penalty Class Code
INITIAL 00062381 EMBEZZLEMENT (PRINCIPAL) 01/14/2000 FELON CLASS H
I don't think Miss Kim Roberts would know "honest to God" if it bit her in her much-flaunted @$$. And to question the boys' "character" when her checkered past is full of lies and deceit is beyond the pale. How ANYBODY (including talking heads so vehemently against "those rapists") can put one iota of faith in these two's ever-changing testimony is beyond understanding.
YES.. Bissey did say they drove up together.. He has totally changed his story. He's trying to put the dagger in the player's chest.
He didn't know it, but his initial statement helped the players. So, after figuring that out, looks like he's gotten creative.
Usually, the first spontaneous story is the most accurate.
I think you guys found another lie the Convict Stripper-twins told. I think they may have knew each other. Why would Bissey (before knowing any other facts) just days after the incident describe them driving up together and describing what they were wearing.
Now, when he needs (wants) to say the woman was Sober, he has her walking in from another direction. This is totally contrary to a live, videotaped interview he did. Jason, Jason... he couldn't resist had to go for the throat (of the players).
Is this website safe for work?
No,, the AP verified the e-mail according to the Radio.
She has basically admitted to writing that e-mail wanted to know how to take advantage of this opportunity and how to SPIN things.
Not sure ... this one should be. Hope so.
http://www.dlanderson.com/main_page.html#
Okay, he's not married. He must have known another female neighbor that gave an interview right after him.
Sorry
Hmm. what does she know about the CROSS burnings in Durham? She'd be up at night.. I wonder..
Except that the defense version also seems to be that Kim arrived 15 minutes or so before the AV. There seems to be no dispute between the strippers and the defense as to arriving separately, 15 mins or so apart.
If you are referring to Kim, her brother, etc? NO. Not safe for workers to visit.
Just waking up--your links to the "my space" entries are incredible. No wonder no one is allowed to ask questions of Kim. Meanwhile two kids have had their lives destroyed. I think I'm going to be sick.
Wow. This is starting to resemble the CBS memo episode. The myspace page, the neighbor's roommate, my goodness, FR can be a research machine! Wonder if the defense has seen some of this!
I don't think his opinion on whether she was sober is meaningful, since he was a house away. No one is claiming that when she walked into the house she wasn't able to walk in under her own power. Bissey may be allowed to testify as to how she walked into the house, but I doubt that he will be allowed to express an opinion on whether she was intoxicated.
Have you sent the "my space " entries to Drudge?
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